This is Mindfunda's presentation for the Dream Weekend organized by the Dutch society for dreamers: Vereninging voor de Studie van Dromen (VSD) . Unfortunately influenza payed me an uninvited visit. I was not able to attend the weekend. Aad van Ouwerkerk, author and dream worker read my presentation to the visitors. I thank him for doing that.

We all have been there: in total darkness. Lost and alone, looking for a new way of life. A new way of being. Carl Jung began writing the Red Book on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Mindfunda looks at his search for the supreme meaning in five (easy) steps. Because this will be a long post I have divided it into five seperate chapters. By clicking on each part it will guide you to the step I am talking about.

This is a series of blogs about my proces of dreaming my way through the Red Book. I have divided it into five steps:

This blog will talk about the first step: Carl Gustav Jung and what led up to writing the Red Book.

The anima will be everywhere. The anima is the soul. Carl Jung his first concept of the soul was the female principle. The soul he thought he had lost when he gave so much (maybe too much) of himself to science.

The first time ever I saw the Red Book at the Jungian institute, I wanted it. I did not actually crave to read it, I just wanted to have it. to open it up from time to time, read, try to read the caligraphy written in German, enjoy the art.

Take a look for yourself if you haven’t had the chance yet (sponsored link to Amazon.com):

Red Book – Readers Edition (sponsored link to support this blog)

But at a given moment I mailed to some good friends of mine. People who are experienced dreamers. I invited them to read the Red Book with me and to incubate dreams and discuss them:Jodine Grundy, Licensed Professional Counselor and former president of the International Association of Dreams.Tim Schaming in training by Robert Moss who will make him realize that he already is a dream teacher.Maria Cernuto, producer / researcher / writer/ makeup artist (and an extra ordinary gifted dreamer, who contributes to the site Dreams Cloud.Linda Mastrangelo, Dream Worker, Researcher, Writer, Artist, and teacher .Christian Gerike, Graduate student at Sonoma State University, Psychology Department, graduating on animals and dreaming.Jenna Farr Ludwig, dreamer, blogger on synchronicity and author.

This blog will talk about five (easy) steps:

Carl Jung

Telepathy and dreams

Animus/anima dreams

God

the Self

But the anima will be everywhere. The anima is the soul. Carl Jung his first concept of the soul was the female principle. The soul he thought he had lost when he gave so much (maybe too much) of himself to science.

Carl Gustav Jung and the soul

Carl Jung (1875 -1961) was a psychiatrist living in Switzerland, married to one of the richest ladies of the country: Emma Rauschenbach. He was a charismatic man who was well liked by the ladies. One of those ladies, Tony Wolff, inspired the process described in the Red Book. She was Jung’s anima in the flesh.
The Red Book describes the process of Jung in search of his soul. His first concept of the anima was the soul. Later on he fine-tuned this process, making the anima part of the man’s psyche.

In 1913 Jung had a vision that lasted for about an hour. He saw blood. Red blood covering Europe. In his own words:

“I saw a monstrous flood covering all the northern and low-lying lands between the North Sea and the Alps When it came up to Switzerland I saw that the mountains grew higher to protect the country. I realized that a frightful catastrophe was in progress. i saw the mighty yellow waves, the floating rubble of civilization, and the drowned bodies of uncounted thousands, Then the whole sea turned to blood. This vision lasted about one hour. I was perplexed and nauseated and ashamed of my weakness…

Two weeks past by then the visions recurred more vividly then before, and the blood was more emphasized. An inner voice spoke: “Look at it well, it is wholly real and it will be so, You can not doubt it”

Jung decided to stay with, and accept these visions. They later became part of a method called Active imagination. Stepping back into a dream or a vision and reliving the dream. Asking questions. Feeling feelings.
Many of us know about this part of the Red Book. Many of us see Jung as the shaman of the West because of this vision. Like a shaman he foresaw the horror facing many people. What do you think? Was it telepathy?